Pokemon: The Kalmaine Region
by assyla silver
Summary: I'm used to going back and forth between the "real" world and the Pokemon one. My friends, on the other hand, aren't. Some of them don't even think it's real and now we're about to get in way over our heads.
1. Chapter 1

Today was not my day. Not there, anyway.

That was the first thing I thought when I opened my eyes after the fall. I had knocked myself out again. This time in front of my friends, who had never really believed this happened to me. I knew exactly what to expect when I opened my eyes and was not disappointed. "Hey, Nurse Joy."

"Welcome back, Shatrina." Ever happy and optimistic, Nurse Joy never was startled at my abrupt appearance. And she always had my stuff handy. She had asked only once where I had come from. I explained and then she mostly dropped it, except for a question here and there. Time differences (Earth time slowed for me to the point I wake up after my knockout), clothing choices (they perplexed her), and how my friends were (she was worried about my social life here since I came and went so randomly). Once she asked if I told her my real name. I told her no and she let it go.

"How are you doing, Nurse? Um you don't happen to have my bag? And where are we?"

"It's in the next room," the pink haired lady nodded. "Feel free as always. We are in a standard Pokécenter in the Kalmaine Region, so the restroom is in the normal place."

With a word of thanks, I headed off to grab my bag and change.

I studied my reflection in the restroom mirror. Being an anime character never really wore off. My hair was now big, curly and red-brown and my huge eyes were an awesome dark gold color. I looked just about nothing like I did back home. I quickly stepped out of my sandals, jeggings, baggy Family Force 5 T-shirt and took out my fake gauges. I stuffed the outfit in my bag and replaced it with a black knee length dress, green vest and silver pokéball belt. I laced up the trainers last and studied myself once more. How long would I stay this time? My Pokémon must have thought I abandoned them for sure... 

"Charizard!"

The great orange creature had raised its head at my scent. Now he felt like an earth shake as he rushed over to me, not even wasting take off and landing time.

"I missed you, buddy," I said as I threw my arms around his neck. "I'm sorry about all this." I had tried to free my friend a few times but he refused to leave, despite my long absences. "I'm going to go say bye to Nurse Joy and then we can go to our mountain for a bit, okay?" Charizard dipped his head once and I hurried back indoors to find Nurse Joy in a heated discussion. Well, heated on the other end.

"Where did you say we were? Don't BS me! What you said is impossible!" the girl yelling at Nurse Joy was short. Her hair was dark purple and angular, just reaching her shoulders. Two guys were standing behind her, a tall one with long black hair and a shorter one with bright blue spikey hair. They seemed shocked. The girl was still yelling as I walked up, ready for a fight.

"You got a problem?" I challenged.

"Only if you say this is a freaking Pokécenter too! Is this some freaky anime cosplay?"

I stared down the girl. "Who are you?"

"Nunya."

Oh crap, I had heard that one before. "Oh but it is my business." I shifted my attention to the boys. The tall one wouldn't look at me. The shorter one, though, met my gaze with eyes that told me he alone would handle what would happen next well. I just wish I knew why it had happened.

"Des, chill out," I sighed. Desiree's eyes widened and her mouth snapped shut. "Luke? Are you OK? Hello?" the tallest one if my friends didn't respond except to nod once. I looked at the last one. "Well you finally got blue hair, JJ."

"What's going on?" Nurse Joy, though momentarily forgotten, brought us back to here and now.

I sighed, "Nurse Joy, these are my friends...from back home." 


	2. Chapter 2

I guided the three of them to a back room that was designated for humans who spent the night at the center. "How did you three get here?"

"A better question is who you are and how you know our names," Des shot back.

"Really?" I shook my head. I lowered my voice so that no one could hear me. "Guys, I'm Kate."  
Luke and Des froze and looked at me. JJ shrugged.

I closed the guest room door behind us. "Food or questions first?" When no one spoke, I took that to mean 'food' and crossed the room to a kitchenette, thinking to make berry smoothies.

"You're really Kate Lawrence?"

I looked over my shoulder at Desi while getting the blender from an overhead cabinet. "Don't believe me, vampire girl?" She didn't respond. "It's really me. Ask anything."

Des thought for a second. "Complete this sentence: 'Hello my name is blank, blank, blank.'"

"Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die," I quoted _The Princess Bride_ with a half-smile.

JJ interrupted. "What's the game we play when we call each other on the phone or talk through _Call of Duty_?"

"Trick question. We text and talk through _Halo: Reach_. It's truth or dare slash 20 questions."

I looked at Luke expectantly.

"You took a picture of me holding a stuffed rat near my face, what did it look like I was doing?"

"Fabio is a _squirrel_ and it looked like you were eating him."

Desiree collapsed into a chair. I didn't hear what she said next because I turned the blender on to mix up the berries and milk but from the shapes her mouth made, it was a long line of explicatives. I passed the smoothies around.

"It's my special Welcome Blend. Good for shock. Drink up." To my surprise they listened without even questioning the ingredients. The smoothies only took about a minute to take effect after they finished.

"I feel kind of tingly," Luke said and then winced at the sound of his voice.

I spoke in whispers. "I found for the first few times I came here I was in a state of shock that made my senses dull and body numb for a while. I made this to treat that and then I stopped having the symptoms. You'll feel tingly to counteract the numbness and your senses will be in overdrive for about 5 minutes."

"But—" Des began and then grimaced at how loud her voice sounded in her ears. She continued in a very quiet whisper, words on breaths of air. "I want to know why you're so calm about this. How many times has this happened to you?"

"It's been happening for 3 years back home and I've spent about 4 years total here. Though I'm baffled as to why you three came with me."

"Four years?" JJ wondered. "Is it like a _Narnia_ time thing?"

"Exactly," I said. "Sometimes I fall and hit my head and the KO apparently sends me here or I go to sleep and 'wake up' here until sunrise over there. That's only happened four times and those times I spent varying amounts of times here."

"Can you tell how long you'll stay?" JJ asked, getting to what he saw as the crux of the matter.

"Nope. I get a day's warning though, I go deaf." That reminded me, I needed to know the date for my log I kept for Nurse Joy (she had made me her personal responsibility and wanted to know what had happened to me whenever my bag weirdly appeared in the Pokécenter she was working at) and to figure out if Jack would be at the mountain.

After the smoothies wore off we went outside, saying bye to Nurse Joy on the way.

"Hey guys, don't freak out, but—" my warning was interrupted by Des's shrieks and Luke stumbling backwards and grunting in pain when he fell. I suddenly wondered how much he knew about Pokémon.

"What is that?"

Now I knew. He knew nothing.

JJ, on the flip side, was regaurding Charizard with awe. "I have to be dreaming."

I shrugged. "I dunno. But if we all are, it's a pretty awesome dream. I don't think we are though. If you get hurt here, you'll carry it back over there."

"And if you die?" Typical.

"I don't know," I repeated. "I've never died." I turned my attention to Charizard. "Hey, buddy. These are my friends. Can you take the three of us to the mountain?" I had seen a clock with a calendar on the way out, Jack would be there. Besides, I had promised.

Charizard nodded. I looked at JJ. "You three fly on his back. He's a steady flier so all you have to do is hold on and not jump off."

The flight was strange. I was worried the whole time about my friends. Charizard was holding me with his claws so I couldn't see them. I wondered what Jack would say. Last time I saw him we had had a huge fight. I wasn't even sure he'd be there.

I guessed it was around 4 when we landed. "We have a bit of a walk guys. Time to rest, Charizard." In a flash of red light, I recalled my friend. I saw the look on JJ's face and was glad of the supplies that waited for us a little ways up this tree-covered mountain.

It was silent as we walked. I was surprised they didn't have more to ask. We had _just_ gotten there. I was about to open my mouth to say so when:

JJ: "WHERE THE - ARE WE GOING AND WHY CAN'T WE FLY THERE?"

Des: "THERE'S A CATERPILLAR THE SIZE OF A FREAKING CHIUAUA OVER THERE!"

"It's not that bad," Luke said. "I mean, look. These blue pinecones seem relatively normal."

I glanced at JJ, who was back to his calm state. He looked back at me, his mouth in that straight, exasperated face anime characters get. (It's REALLY cool to see everything in anime, by the way.) Des had the giant, nervous teardrop on the back of her head as Luke rotated the 'pinecone' in his hands.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I face palmed myself. Of course they'd freak out before we reached inside. I sat down and watched, just going to wait it out. JJ was calm after the initial outburst and sat next to me, amused.

"You're going to be one of _those_ people aren't you?" I asked him.

"What people?"

"The kind that need someone to slap them when they have a random temper outburst."

Luke was still holding the Pineco and yelling. I thought about retrieving the Pokémon but was rather afraid of what Luke might do at the moment. Des was going off on a seven-arm-oversized-head freak out. My friends looked cool as cartoons. Though I wondered why their appearance hadn't changed as drastically as mine had. I couldn't wait till they saw themselves.


	3. Chapter 3

All at once they stopped. Luke was still standing, shoulders slumped, panting, and hands Pineco-free. Des was on the ground, belly-down because she had literally had a kick-and-pound-the-ground fit.

"You guys done?"

They nodded.

"Good." I stood and took two steps over to a tree, touched a knot on it and stood back. The ground to my immediate right opened up. "Hello?"

There was a pause. Then a voice floated up. "Shatrina?"

"I'm coming down." I looked at the other three. "Don't call me Kate and wait until I yell your name to jump."

"Ju—" I didn't stay to hear Des's objection, stepping into the hole and bracing myself for landing. The eight foot drop ended in a surprise.

"WAHH!"

"Dragon girl!" A blue blur caught me. Jack and I looked at eachother awkwardly for a second before he set me on my feet. "It's been a long time, dragon girl."

"About a month for me, actually," I looked right into his eyes. "Jack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I was wrong."

"You're forgiven," he half-smiled. "But things here… they've gone bad."

I held up a hand. "I want to hear about this but wait a second." I turned around and yelled up the hole. "LUKE!"

The tall one jumped and landed neatly, getting out of the way for the next.

"DESIREE!" _Thud._ "JJ? Why… oh nevermind. DES GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE!"

"EEK!"

Jack was ready. My Pokémon best friend caught my Earth best friend with ease. Des was red as Jack put her on her feet. "That's an interesting outfit," he commented.

"I could say the same about you," Des shot back.

"So," I interrupted. "Guys, this is Jack. Jack, this is Luke, JJ and Desiree. Um, where is everyone an why did we land on a bed versus the trampoline?"

Jack sighed. I could tell I was distressing him. Jack was a very laid-back guy. Long hair green, brilliant on a Pokéflute, and radiated relaxation. "That's what I meant by bad earlier. All of them joined the Ice Star when you left last. I couldn't move the base in case you got back quickly so I've been living down here and guarding the entrance even while asleep."

"Ice Star?" Luke interrupted. "What's that?"

"Where have you been, man?"

"They're like me, Jack," I said. "And once again only you and Nurse Joy know. The thing is that Luke knows zilch, Des is better though it's been a while for her and JJ is probably about the same as me when you first met me. Crash course them while I get some stuff."

"Don't be so tense, dragon girl. I got this. So, Otherlings, the Ice Star would equal Team Rocket to you…"

"Team what?"

"He knows zilch, Jack."

I scurried around the base, making a pile in the middle of the room and filling my Pokéball belt with partners I had entrusted to Jack's care last time I had gone deaf. Dratini, Dragonair, and Dragonite.

Jack's explanation was over as I finished the pile. "Does that make sense?"

"Kind of," Luke said. Des said yes and JJ nodded.

"Hey guys, I have some stuff for you," I beckoned them over. "You guys look weird in your clothes, sorry but," I shrugged. "Pick and choose what you like."

_That _took a while. But eventually it was all fixed and we were sitting, Jack telling me about what the Ice Star had been doing the past six months. Apparently kidnapping was popular now. They were still using their trademark to do this, freezing a person or Pokémon solid and then taking them in a modified airplane and looked like a low shooting star at nighttime.

"And their latest threat was towards the elementary school and all nomads," Jack finished, "Which is why I've been hiding. Though since our friends haven't come for me I don't know what the real deal is with the latter part. Everyone is starting to worry. They seem to have real goals besides random chaos now."

"That worries me," I frowned. "But right now we can't do anything. No one knows where their base is and… well…" I looked at my friends out of the corner of my eye. I wouldn't throw them into that when they were just settling in. Otherwise I'd find a way to help. "There's no action we can take."

"But we need to get out there," Jack said. "And do something."

I agreed. "We need to get into the public." Now how to do that? If we were in public, we'd need to be normal and right now we weren't really that. "First…" I looked at my Earth friends, who had been listening intently. "You guys need something."

Luke looked confused. Des looked wary. JJ's eyes widened.

I reached into my bag and pulled out three items the size of large marbles, pressing the button on each so they'd expand to the size of oranges as I tossed them at my friends, who caught on reflex.

"Let's work on settling you three in."


	4. Chapter 4

JJ POV

As we walked through the trees on the mountain, Kate explained about the Kalmaine region to us. "This is one of the mixed regions you don't hear about in our world. Every landscape, every Pokémon, every type of person. Remember how big the Pokémon center was? And how it was different than any you've seen on TV? It's because there are so many more types of Pokémon to treat and that the population is about 150% of the usual amount for both humans and Pokémon.

"The centers, marts, and towns all need to be constructed differently. Bigger, more complex et cetera. For some reason all we see in the show in our world are the smaller areas. Probably because complicated concepts don't work well with anime." She checked to see if we were following her. "OK, to dumb it down, this means that any Pokémon you know we can probably find."

"Ohhhhh," Desiree said. Luke shrugged. I could tell Kate wished he knew at least something about Pokémon.

I was _psyched_ about this.

We reached a clearing in the trees. "Name a Pokémon, Desiree."

"Wait," Luke interrupted. "What's the point of having a Pokémon?"

"Really dude?" I asked. "They're powerful little monsters you can keep in your pocket and befriend and have the best adventures ever with! _I wana be the very best! Like no one ever was!_"

"Ugh he's singing again!" Desiree groaned.

"_Too catch them is my real test! To train them is my caussseeee…."_

Kate shook her head, laughing. "Des?"

"I can't think with that noise!"

"_I will travel across the land, searching far and wide! Each Pokémon to understand the power that's inside!"_

A hand covered my mouth and a second hit the back of my head. I ceased the noise coming from my mouth and waited innocently for Des to answer Kate.

"What power could they have?" Luke interrupted again.

Jack pulled out a Pokéball from his pocket. "Care to see?"

I muttered to Des, "Bet you ten bucks it's a Skiploom."

I won the bet.

"Dude, that thing doesn't look powerful," Luke said. "It looks… _cute_."

Jack just smiled. He was chill. Kinda hippie-like when he wasn't stressed out like in the Secret Base earlier. Made me wonder if he'd be the new person to hit if the 'I'm so mad I could punch a hippie' joke came up. That used to be Luke's job because he had the longest hair but this guy beat him by a good foot of straight, green, hippie-do. He even held it down with a blue wrap headband. In fact, the guy was dressed in head to toe blue.

"Skiploom, use razor leaf," Jack requested calmly, pointing at a tree a few feet away from Luke.

I stepped farther from Luke and closer to Kate, pulling Desi with me.

Skiploom did a ballerina-twirl thing, it probably had a sassy nature, and then let loose. Leaves flew through the air like ninja stars, seeming not to hit the tree at all, excepting the slashing noise. "DUDE!" Luke dove out of the way as the tree fell right where he had stood.

"You were saying they weren't powerful?" Kate smirked.

Jack shrugged. "Yours do generally have a more intimidating appearance, dragon girl. I prefer appearances that deceive." He gave Luke a hand up. "Seeing the look on people's faces is amusing."

Luke muttered something, staring at the tree stump.

"So?" Kate asked Desiree.

"I have no idea." Des shrugged. "Any suggestions, K?"

"K?" Jack asked.

"Nickname," Kate said quickly, raising an eyebrow at Des. I suddenly remembered what she said earlier. 'Don't call me Kate.' Why? "Let's see… water type? Dark?"

"What does it matter?" I wondered. "Won't we find some if we just walk around in tall grass or a cave?"

Des pursed her lips. "Hel-_lo_? Game versus life. They're probably too shy to just attack us if we do that."

"You're both wrong," Kate said. "And can you two ever knock it off?"

"No," Des said. I shrugged.

"_Some_ wild Pokémon do attack without provocation but they're hard to train. And no, usually they're not too shy to attack, they're too smart. They know they can get hurt. We're going to have to search for them."

Jack was a bit behind. "What does it mean?"

"What does what mean?"

"K?"

"_Nothing_," Kate shook her head. "I vote we head towards the adoption center first so you guys can get a feel for real Pokémon before you decide what to look for."

"Am I the only one of us who thinks the words 'real' and 'Pokémon' _don't_ go together?" Luke asked.

"Yes," I said.

"No," Desiree shot back.

Kate face palmed herself and started walking again. Jack followed her, looking concerned. I tried to listen to their conversation discreetly as we walked and Desiree tried to explain generalities about Pokémon to Luke.

"…they in a fight?"

"What? No, that's just how they are. It's like putting equally powerful, stubborn Fraligator and Combustkin together."

"That's a bit general."

Kate shrugged and didn't comment. Jack looked like he wanted to add something more but kept his mouth shut.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Desiree POV

The Pokémon adoption center was nothing like I expected. It was like huge ranch. As in three times the size of my high school, huge. And my high school is like 3 acres or something. The greeter's name was Cindy, and she hustled us through the small main building into the yard. I caught a glimpse of a room full of shelves, though. Every single shelf had at least 10 Pokéballs and the shelves were all floor-to-ceiling.

How many homeless Pokémon were there and why didn't they just release them?

I nudged Jack as we walked through the building, since he was closer to me that Kate. "Why don't they just release the Pokémon without trainers?"

"Some of them are hurt psychologically by being abandoned, and some are too tame among other problems," Jack responded. "Others won't leave and Cindy is too kind hearted to leave them in the cold. Some people have black markets for this kind of thing, but not many. Lots of hot headed, strong trainers will gather together on a whim and root them out. If Pokémon are anything, they're unifying."

We were outdoors. "Did you all have any specifics in mind?" Cindy's voice was rather Southern.

Kate shook her head. "My friends grew up in the Adar Section so they've never been around Pokémon. I was hoping you would let them spend some time with some of the Pokémon so they could get used to it before finding any of their own, whoever they may choose to do that."

Cindy regarded Kate carefully. "I would only do this for you, Shatrina and Jack, because you and your friends have held off the Ice Star from this area for so long."

_What?_

"You're talking to me later," I hissed to Kate when Cindy had gone. Kate gave no sign she heard me, but I knew. Besides, it wasn't like she could abandon me or anything.

"So do you have any specifics in mind?" Jack asked me. I shook my head. I didn't like to expect much. "How much do you know about Pokémon?"

I shrugged. "I know different types and the basics of how certain ones do in battle against others. I haven't done much with Pokémon since I was about eight, so the details are foggy. But I loved it when I was into it."

JJPOV

We'd been here for about an hour and I had wandered from the group. Jack was with Des and Kate was with Luke. I figured I'd be fine. I wanted to do this myself. I was walking in a forest-y area, heading towards the sound of running water. A water-type would be awesome. Would I be able to get one without a Fishing Rod?

The stream was medium sized. Deep judging by the shadows that came and went. I looked at them, wondering what kind of Pokémon could possibly be making them.

"AGH!" _Splash_. I spat water from my mouth and tried to get out of the stream. I managed to fall over again. I heard laughter behind me and whirled around, sending water everywhere. No one was there that I could see. Maybe in the trees? Ignoring them, I stood and got out of the water carefully. Totally. Soaked.

Sitting in the grass, I began to think that maybe I should have just stayed with the group.

Something plopped down next to me and I flinched, startling it into spraying me with water. "Hey!"

"_Fraligator!_"

Luke POV

"I don't want one," I said. "It's not real."

"For now it is," Kate said.

"Kate, no its not."

She glared at me and glanced around to make sure no one had heard before replying. "Shush with that name. Look, it's just for protection in case we do end up facing Ice Star."

"That reminds me, you and Jack have been doing _what_ to them?"

"Holding them off from this town," Kate sighed. "The last time I was here it was for almost a year and my team became something of a legend because we were some of the only ones who could keep Ice Star away. The population of the town swelled during that year. I don't know what's up now."

"What's the Adar Section?"

"One of the few Pokémon-free places in this world last time I checked."

"How long have you been gone?"

"About seven months."

"Why are we here?"

"I have no idea. But you need a way to defend yourself or we need to put you somewhere safe."

"_Put_ me somewhere safe?"

She smirked. "On my team I was Dragon. That's why Jack calls me dragon girl. I go by those and by Shatrina here. No one knows much else about me, except that I'm capable of doing just about whatever I want. Including _putting _people places and making them _stay there_."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"Wouldn't what?" Jack came up. Kate just smirked. "Talking to K about something?"

I looked at Kate and opened my mouth. Hadn't she just said that no one else knew other names?

"Nice try, Jack. It's a random nickname. A letter. Nothing more. Don't push it."

"You care to share, then, Luke?"

"I don't want to give her reason to follow through on her threats."

"Ah. Wise move."

My jaw dropped slightly. She must have some actual bite instead of just bark here.

"DES YOU GOT A POKÉMON!"

I saw a grinning Desiree behind Jack.

"LET ME SEE!"

There was a flash of light.

"AGH!" I fell over again and the girls burst out laughing.

"Smooth, Luke," Kate snickered.

"Hel-lo? Houndour over here!" Des interrupted.

"Is that what it is?" I asked, eyeing it.

"It's a fire type," Des started.

"Dark type," JJ interrupted coming up from the side.

"She's both," Kate interrupted.

"How do you know it's a girl?" I demanded.

"Kate always knows," Jack said. "Most of the time. Kodi one with a real knack for it."

"Kodi?"

"She was the psychic of the group," Kate said quietly. "Pokémon type wise and the other way. She and Brandon had fun with pitting her psychic types against his ghosts. The battles were usually fairly even."

"Were there any water trainers?" JJ asked.

"No," Jack said. "Why?"

"I'm looking for tips." JJ held up a Pokéball. "You and me are opposites again, Desiree."

Desiree raised an eyebrow. "We'll see who's more powerful." She knelt on the ground by Houndour. "You're just so cute aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Not the word I'd use for it."

"Shut up."

"So is that two of you?" Kate asked. "You got a water type, JJ?"

There was another flash of light.

"Hey he didn't fall over."

I just eyed the blue alligator.

"He's an old one," a new voice commented. Cindy smiled as we all turned towards her. "No one seemed to be able to handle his… personality."

"We're getting along great," JJ grinned. His hair was the color of the thing's skin.

"Well, that's wonderful."

I could sense that Kate was looking at me. I kept looking at Cindy.

"Are we all good here?" Kate asked.

I didn't say anything but everyone else did.

"All right then. We should head out, Jack."

"Are we…?"

"After one more little thing."

"Are you regrouping your team?" Cindy asked, her tone hopeful.

Kate sighed. "I don't know if the old team can be regrouped, Cindy. But we're going to do something about them, I promise."


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Desiree POV

We flew for hours. I kept my eyes shut almost the whole time. Jack and I were on his Tropius. Luke, JJ, and Kate were on Charizard. I hate heights.

I blinked rapidly when I next opened my eyes. "Am I blind?"

"It's just dark out, Des," Kate's voice said. The area lighted up momentarily as Charizard and Tropius went back into their Pokéballs. A third flash I didn't expect startled me. "Dratini, flash, please."

I gasped as I saw a soft gold light radiate from a large, elegant snake-shaped animal. It grew brighter and brighter until everything in a 20 foot radius was visible.

"It's dark because there's no moon tonight," Jack said from behind me. "No Clefairy to find."

"Not tonight," Kate agreed. "But we can find them."

"Them?" JJ, Luke and I all said.

"Shatrina," Jack said uncertainly. "Them? They don't let anyone in."

"Unless they have desperate need," Kate contradicted. "Besides, I have an in."

"Why does she have so many connections here?" I whispered to JJ. "I can't wrap my head around it. What on earth could she have done here?"

"I have no idea."

"Here," Kate whispered. We stopped, looking at the empty space in front of us.

"Where?" I asked. "It's a big, empty field."

"Don't panic. Dratini, brighter."

I covered my eyes as the dragon type became blinding and listened carefully. "K—," I began.

"Shush!"

Dratini glowed brighter and brighter and the night air got thicker and thicker. Someone was using mist.

"That's good, Dratini. Hello?"

It was quiet for a long moment.

"Who's there?"

"Halden, let us in."

The mist parted. A cute guy dressed like a ranger was visible. "Shatrina. Why are you here?"

"I'll explain it to you once we aren't out here. Please."

"We owe you," Halden admitted after a long moment. "Come on."

"How is everyone doing?" Kate asked as we walked.

"Scared," Halden replied. "Very scared. Ice Star is taking more and more trainers every day and every single one of them turn. We don't go outside anymore." Halden turned to Jack. "I thought they got you."

"They got the rest of our team," Kate interrupted. "Jack's been hiding out, too."

The farther we went the more the mist cleared and we saw an Altaria that had been causing it.

Then Kate turned to the tall one. "Luke? You still think you're dreaming?"

"Yeah."

Kate nodded and didn't say anything else.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

No one came in or out of here. I knew that for a fact. Especially with what Halden had just said.

To the outside world, the nameless village was almost invisible because of thick mists and a bus load of psychic Pokémon using protect. It was a weird idea, but it worked. That was why they owed me. Not that Jack knew. I had helped these guys before I met Jack. It had never come up.

"Hey guys, I need to talk to Halden." Halden looked at me strangely but let me lead the way to a place the others couldn't hear.

"Halden, the three of my friends you don't know are from the Adar region. The tallest one refuses to have anything to do with Pokémon and Jack and I need to do some things. Will you—"

"We'll take him," Halden said. "Does he know?"

"Uh, no."

"And the other two?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "They might want to help, they might not. But they each have a Pokémon now. They're more protected than him. But Jack and I need to find Ice Star HQ again. We need to get our team out of there."

"It's not possible."

"Neither is cloaking two hundred people. Can we rest here? I want to move tomorrow."

"Always in a hurry."

"I never have enough time," I smiled wryly.

"Huh?"

"Inside joke. So?"

"The red house is empty now. Lee and Xander finally got married and moved into his place. Go sleep."

"Always to the point."

"Kate?" Desiree whispered into the darkness of the house.

"Yeah, Des?" I rolled over in my bed to face hers.

"What's the deal?"

"With?"

"Everything. You have a ton—"

"Of connections. I've done a lot," I finished her thought.

"Yeah. Why? Why did you bother?"

I sighed. "It was the best dream of my life. Why wouldn't I bother? When I realized it _was_ my life after breaking my arm, I didn't change anything I was doing except that it was a lot more important now."

"Why are we here now?" She asked after processing that.

I bit my lip.

"Kate? Oh, that reminds me, why the name?"

"New world, new identity," I said simply. I paused. "It's my job to take care of Ice Star; it has been ever since I started interfering. I have to help. At least Jack and I need to gather intel for next time. Oh gosh I hope I don't go back before something happens."

"Jack and you aren't doing anything."

"Yeah, Des we are."

"Not without us."

"It's dangerous, Des."

"So teach us."


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Des POV

"WHAT?!"

"You're staying here, Luke!"

"No way!"

"Yeah you are," Kate growled. She took a deep breath. "You don't take this seriously and you don't have a Pokémon to protect you and this is going to be dangerous." She shifted the pack on her back and looked up at Luke. "You're staying. You won't have to have anything to do with Pokémon and you'll be safe until we come back. Deal with it, Luke." She whirled and walked away, heading back to the red house.

I glanced at Jack. "She always get testy when we're about to start something. It'll wear off."

"Reminds me of you when you get irritated," JJ commented. "You guys rub off on each other."

"Shut up." I looked at Luke. He was ticked, too. I was going to say something but Jack touched my elbow.

"Let's get ready."

"You're going?" Luke asked.

"Yeah. I am."

"JJ?"

"Sorry man. This is important. Be safe."

"Des?" JJ said the next day. "Have you seen a mirror today?"

I glared at him. I was _not_ a morning person. "No, JJ, I _haven't_ because I woke up five freaking minutes ago."

"Stop bickering," Kate ordered, entering the kitchen. Her red hair was tied under a bandana and she was still in her pajamas. "What, you guys didn't notice that before?"

"Notice what?" Jack came up behind her. "Hey, your hair got highlights, Desiree! "

I threw my hands up. "Will someone tell me what's going on?"

"Your hair changed color a little bit," Kate smiled. "There're some lighter bits now."

"My.. hair…" I jumped up and ran to the bathroom. Holy… I was a cartoon character.

"When did I become a cartoon?!"

Kate hurried in and shut the door behind her. "You didn't notice everything was anime?"

"Well yeah, but…"

"It happens," she laughed. "JJ started with blue hair because he accepted it right away. You accepted it on a subconscious level so you started with dark purple but you got the highlights because you accept it completely. Luke's going to be tough, though. Hey, at least it's a color you like."

Purple hair… I tugged at it. "Is there a brush around here?"

"Just run your fingers through it." Kate took off her bandana and her mess of red expanded to three times what it should have been. "Like this." She reached up and used her fingers like a comb. I watched as the red quickly came under control and allowed itself to be tied into the ponytail Kate had had in the day before.

I copied her and was happy to see that my hair actually _liked_ cooperating here.

"See? Being here has perks," Kate winked. "Come on, we're leaving in fifteen."

JJ POV

I had a Pokémon.

I had a Pokémon.

I had a Pokémon.

I was about to go on a Pokémon adventure.

Holy **** I was about to go on a Pokémon adventure.

Des and I were waiting on the edge of the town. I was trying to figure out what so many Pokémon were doing sitting out in the streets using different attacks on thin air when Des spoke up.

"Where are we getting food from?"

I shrugged. "That backpack Kate was carrying can hold a bike, fishing rod and probably the equivalent to a hundred pounds of other stuff. Jack was loading up a bag similar to it this morning. I'm going to bet they have food."

It was quiet for a moment.

"I bet I catch more Pokémon than you."

"Bring it, fire girl."

Kate took forever to finally get to us. When she did, she was steaming. (Metaphorically and literally.) I wasn't sure how to react. She was hardly ever visibly mad. I looked at Des, who looked a bit unsure herself. That was just great. The best friend didn't know how to handle it either.

The green haired hippie walking next to Kate, though, seemed totally relaxed. I could hear them as they got closer.

"…seemed pretty shocked that you actually did it."

"Do you not remember what happened to Rissa?"

"Still, how well do these people know you?"

"Shut up, Flower Boy. There are two of me and you know it. I'll sic Charizard on you again."

At that point they realized they were getting in earshot. I looked at Des again and whispered, "Think we can make those two people one?"

She shrugged and Kate and Jack finally reached us. Kate was still mad.

"What's wrong?" Des asked cautiously.

"Nothing. Luke just didn't expect me to follow through." Kate sighed and we watched as she returned to her normal skin tone. "So. Questions?"

"Food?"

"Water?"

"Sleeping?"

"What we're actually going to do once we find the HQ?"

Des hit me. "Ruin the one word questions, why don't you?"

Kate laughed. "Backpack, water-type Pokémon, backpack again and we're going to rescue kidnapped trainers, civilians and Pokémon before they're brainwashed to help take over the world."

Des and I were stunned. Jack just hung out, radiating calmness like this was nothing new.

Kate smirked. "What? Didn't you see the save-the-world thing coming?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for reviewing, everyone **** It makes writing this even more fun. I know it's been a while (the joys of schoolwork) and that it seems like I've forgotten poor Luke. No worries on either front, though! I have a few chapters to put up now and the rest of the story planned out! Let's see what happens, shall we?**

**-assyla**

CHAPTER 9

Luke POV

I was stuck in this city. The whole thing was guarded by Pokémon that were under instructions from almost everyone in the city to not let me out.

Right now, to stay away from the imaginary creatures, I was getting comfortable in a second story bedroom in the red house. I just wanted to sleep and have the whole thing to go away.

Kate POV

Des and I were flying on Charizard, the boys were on Tropius. I kept hearing Des try to talk to me but I couldn't hear her. We needed to set up the comm headsets my team used to have. For that matter we needed to get to a shopping center to get more technical gear that we had either broken or been lost to Ice Star, according to Jack.

So we were heading to the central city, Macleute, the only place to get that gear. We were going to need to play dress up. Jack said it was an "Icy" place now. Thankfully we should have some friends there, whose stuff hadn't gone through Ice hands and been compromised.

Ironically, my life here more resembled a spy TV show than the actual Pokémon show quite often. On the plus side, there were some clichés that rang true. Bad disguises, people taking a while to work out the obvious, if-you-can't-see-them-they-can't-see-you logic. Basically, because I had a type of common sense that saw through that stuff (unlike most people here), I had a superpower.

I figured that since JJ and Des had that same common sense they'd be OK. Otherwise we would have all just waited it out in the red house and Jack would have had to cope until I got back again. My friends were my life so I wasn't going to risk theirs.

JJ POV

"So why do we need disguises?" I was watching Kate turn Des into a blue-eyed blonde. "And why do they have to be so elaborate?"

Jack nudged Kate with his shoulder. "She always goes overboard with this."

We were all crammed in the tiny bathroom of someone else who had been saved by these two. The house was just outside Macleute City. Des was the last one to be Barbie. Jack looked Chinese now and anyone would swear I was from the Middle East. If we were home. What was I here? Oh, and Kate managed to turn herself black.

"Remember the standards Jessie and James had as disguises?"

"Yeah."

"That's _everyone's_ standards."

"So there's no way we can get caught?"

Kate smiled. "That's why we're the best."

"You're kidding me."

"Thought you'd appreciate that."

_"You put the secret button behind the poster in the game corner?"_

"So?" Jack interrupted Kate's laughter. "It's a good place to hide it."

I broke down laughing with Kate, literally rolling on the ground.

Des POV

Jack sighed as we watched out friends. "She always laughs about it but I guess he understands the joke. Just let them get it out."

We stood there, just outside the city, waiting for them for what felt like ages.

"So you come here often?"

I looked at Jack like he was crazy. "Was that supposed to be a conversation starter or a pick-up line?"

He grinned. "That depends. Did it work?"

"Yes, Jack. I come here quite frequently. It's my favorite spot in the world. Isn't it lovely? I'm so glad I get to share it on such a day as this with the present company. I've been wishing for this to happen ever since I was a little girl growing up in the Adal region." Sarcasm dripped from my every word.

Jack smirked. "As glad as I am that you find delight in this spot and present company, may I point out that I believe you meant 'Adar Section'? Growing up there all your life, you surely can't get the name wrong."

I opened my mouth to reply but Kate and JJ managed to pull themselves together just then. It was time to head into the city.

"I still don't understand what's so funny about the button," Jack whispered as we walked into the game corner. I looked around so quickly I was sure my head was a blur. Everything was so shiny!

"And you never will," I heard Kate say simply. She was already at the poster. "JJ? You want to?"

"**** yes!" Kate hit him as soon as he was next to her. "What was that for?!"

"Quit swearing! It's rated G!"

"You mean we could be on TV?!"

"Just press the button, Slowbro. Of course we're not on TV."

"But you said-"

"Do you want to press this button or not?"

JJ's mouth clamped shut fast and he slid his hand behind the poster. He must've pressed something because a handle appeared in the wall next to it. One by one we all slipped through the newly-revealed door.

Lights flickered on, reminding me of a type of alien warning in a British show I watched back home. Kate gave me a knowing look. She recognized it, too. Good to know she wasn't all whatever-the-other-name-is here.

"Dragon-girl? Look around."

"Wha-t? Uh-oh." Kate walked around the room slowly. It was messy, dusty but packed with stuff."What do you think happened? Who?"

"No idea."

"Looks like no one's been in here for a long time," JJ offered.

Kate's head whirled towards JJ and I. "Out! We have to go! Now!"

"Dragon-girl, we have to look around."

"No! They could have set up some kind of alarm and be on their way. Everyone, _move it!_"


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Jack POV

Dragon-girl really did know how to pull off being someone else. And it made sense to disguise her friends the first time around. They'd get used to it and if Ice Star was here, they wouldn't have been able to be identified later.

But I'd still know what they really looked like. And I'd worked with Dragon-girl so long that I knew what kind of disguises to look for. She didn't stand a chance.

The only logical place left to go was the Macleute department store. The game corner had been "compromised" and we needed certain things. Shatrina would resign herself to risking the stuff being bugged because of sheer necessity.

I waited patiently for that decision to be made. Desiree caught my eye at one point and I couldn't help smile at her. She was pretty. Good sense of humor, too. Maybe she'd join up. The two of us bantered as we walked behind Dragon-girl and JJ. He was asking question after question, occasionally trying to trip her up and get her to tell something she didn't want to.

From half listening to their conversation as we walked into the department store, I finally learned her other name.

"Should we split up?" I chimed in once the others realized how far apart the items we needed were.

"No," Shatrina said instantly. "That's not happening. We just have to move quickly."

I frowned. "I know you're worried about them, but we don't have time."

"It's not happening, Jack."

I shrugged. It'd be easier to be spotted in a larger group, anyway. We began shopping, making our way to the top floor, where the electronics were. When the others weren't looking, I caught the eye of the sales girl. I began coughing, loudly.

"Are you okay?" Desiree asked me after I didn't stop for a good half a minute. "Should we go outside?" I shook my head and the "fit" began to slowly subside. When I looked back at the counter, the girl wasn't there. Perfect.

"Dragon-girl," I said quietly, touching her arm. "How much more is on the list?" She rattled off a few things I already knew and I nodded along.

Kate POV

I was telling Jack the rest of the things we needed when everything went to ****. A salesgirl walked up to us, we went through the "do you need any help? no thanks" thing and somehow as all of us tried to navigate around each other to shop, I bumped into her. Her bracelet got caught in my "hair" ‒which figured since it was the one time I chose to ever wear such a long wig‒ and pulled it right off.

The sight of a dark-skinned girl with my real hair caught the eye of three men in the store.

That wouldn't have been a problem. If I didn't recognize them.

"Jack, time to split up. Look around." He did and realized what was going on immediately. JJ and Des tried to say something, but I cut them off. "They're here and they recognize me. Split up, change what you look like, stay low, whatever. Just _be safe._ I'll get you out."

Then I turned and sprinted out of the store.

Alarms started going off and as I ran through the building, more and more people began to tail me. All Ice Star.

"C'mon, Dragonair, time to fly!"

I shocked civilian onlookers by simply jumping on the Pokémon's back. Ice Star expected impossibilities of me. We flew through the building, grateful for high ceilings and roomy staircases, ending up on the ground floor.

I had expected to be trapped and I wasn't disappointed. What I didn't expect was that they had Jack captured. Dragonair hovered in the air, waiting for a signal from waiting for a signal from him. I saw Des and JJ in the crowd of civilians, who were looking on in fear and confusion. I decided to clear it up.

"These people are Ice Star!" I shouted. "Your whole city has been taken! They're taking over and _I'm here to stop them!_"

JJ POV

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Even with everything else, this was unbelievable. Kate, who was scared of public speaking, looked ready to rally the huge crowd of people here against an evil they didn't know had been there.

Before she could, though, Jack yelled something I didn't understand. Kate must have, because she released another Pokémon and its flash blinded everyone.

"Des?!" I yelled as people began to panic because they couldn't see. Her hand clamped onto my arm. The light disappeared quickly but it took a while for our vision to go back to normal.

All of Ice Star had run outside, we could see them in the streets. Probably looking for Kate and Jack.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Des asked me as all the other people began trying to figure out the same thing. I could hear a lot of them asking about if that had really been the terrorist group they'd heard about. Des was looking around as I was listening. Eventually I had to ask, "Do you hear a clicking sound?"

"What? No. I can't hear anything with these people."

I frowned. It wasn't stopping. "It sounds like someone clicking their tongue against their teeth. Over and over again."

"What?" Des tried to hear it. "Can you tell where it's coming from?"

"The staircase."

"C'mon then, that's our cue!"

"That makes no sense," I muttered but followed her.

Kate was sitting halfway up the steps and the clicking stopped as soon as she saw us. "Finally!"

"Why were you clicking?" I asked.

"What, haven't we told you the story about Michelle and the guy with the clipboard?"

"No?"

As Des proceeded to explain about the creepy-take-Michelle-down-an-abandoned-hall-survey guy to me and how he had tapped a pen against his clipboard during the whole thing making the clicking noise Kate had called us with and they teased Michelle with, Kate lead us back outside to a waiting Tropius and Charizard.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Luke POV

It was day… something. Afternoon. I was bored out of my mind. I had been staring at this wall for four hours now and was Getting really hungry. But one of those _things_ was probably downstairs.

I'd been into other stuff growing up. The Pokémon cartoon and games just slid by me. Even if this was real, I'd have no idea what I was supposed to be doing. Ranking up?

I was too hungry. Couldn't stand it anymore. Definitely had to go down and get food. Luckily no one was down there. There was a big rock on the table, though. All green and spotted. Weird decoration. Eh. Whatever. I didn't think it was anything to worry about. I just wanted something recognizable.

I remember being excited about the pizza and thinking, _I probably shouldn't eat the whole box…Maybe just half._

Next thing I remember was internally groaning. _Ughhhh… food coma…. So. Freaking. Good._ The pizza box was empty.

I was staring at the rock, my vision blurring just a little bit from lack of concentration. I thought I saw it move and then figured it was impossible. I shut my eyes for a second.

_Crack._

My eyes had flown open at the sound. The rock was in pieces on the table. I was face-to-face with a monkey. A monkey. Finally something normal.

"Chimchar?"

I groaned out loud. Nope. It talked. It was one of them.

It eyed me carefully.

"I guess that's what you are then. Chimchar. You look more like a Paul to me."

"Chimchar!" The thing jumped onto me like a little kid and wrapped itself around me.

I realized it had fire on top of its head that was really close to my face.

"Oh no you don't, imaginary Paul… Chim… thing. If you gotta do that, go like _this_." I moved it so it was riding on my shoulders. "Don't choke me with your feet."

The thing started chattering, sounding happy. Guess a happy imaginary thing is better than an angry one.

I wondered where whats-his-name was and if he could tell me how to make the insanity stop from growing. Probably not. But since my friends LEFT ME, there wasn't much else of a choice. I had to be going crazy. After all, I was imagining fire monkeys named Paul now.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Jack POV

"How long are we stuck hiding in the mountains?"

"What mountains are we in anyway?"

"What if we're attacked?"

"Is there somewhere to hide?"

Dragon-girl patiently answered question after question as I dug through the items I had "miraculously" acquired. Then she turned to me. "Jack, do we have a map anywhere? I want to get moving on our next steps."

I held up the requested item. "What steps are those?" I nodded as she ran through them quickly. I'd figured as much. "I'll start the map work, if you like."

"All right. Des, JJ, work with Houndour and Fraligator. See what they can do. You'll figure it out. I'm going to look around for a place to sleep tonight."

I got bored with the map very quickly. All I ended up doing was deciding which places to lead Shatrina to before we "ended up at" the real Ice Star headquarters. There were things that needed to get done without her interference.

I pulled out my Pokéflute and played for a bit, watching JJ and Desiree struggle to learn their Pokémons' abilities from slightly above them. Every now and then I would call out something in order to appear helpful.

It was disorienting to see how these other-worlders treated the Pokémon. Many Pokémon could grasp the idea of what a human was saying to them, but for these people it was slightly different. They were like dragon-girl, communicating precisely with the other species and because they expected to be understood, and it was almost like they were.

Des POV

"Paw the ground once if you understand me, Houndour." I said. Houndour followed the instruction. "Great. Now-"

"OWWWWW!"

I turned to see JJ being hit and sprayed repeatedly by Fraligator. "What did you do?"

"Nothing! Ow! Ow! I might have said something about Jack! I'm sorry!"

"Do tell," Kate's voice came from behind me. "I want to know if it's the same thing I've noticed."

I looked between the two of them and had no idea whatever the look they were sharing meant. "What am I missing here?"

"You two just seem to enjoy each others' company," Kate said lightly. JJ snickered and Fraligator hit him again.

"Yeah?" I said, confused. "So?"

"Think about it, Des," Kate sighed.

JJ started laughing at the confused look on my face. "I think she's friend-zoned him!"

"No I haven't!"

"Aha!" JJ yelled. Fraligator sprayed him with water again and he started another anime-freak out with the Pokémon.

" No! That's not what I meant!" My mind was suddenly all wibbley-wobbly. Kate was laughing silently and I was sure Jack would walk up any minute. "You guys are impossible!"

"Chill…out…" Kate managed to say. She took a few minutes to get mostly calm again but the giggles were still ongoing. "Friend-zone who you like, but make sure you follow the path I'm setting up before dark. No idea what kind of Pokémon live here and you all look like you aren't having the easiest time training these two."

"Would you mind helping?" I asked pointedly.

"Sure, sure." She looked over at the ongoing _JJ Show_. "I think he may need help first, though." She shouted up at Jack, who was higher on the hill than he was earlier. The hippy boy came down and helped JJ with Fraligator while Kate started to help me.

I couldn't help looking over at the boys now and then. Sometimes I'd catch Jack's eye and he'd smile but most of the time he didn't even notice me studying him. I'm sure Kate did, but she kept quiet about it.

Could you even friend-zone someone you hadn't considered like that? Or was that the point of the friend-zone? To sort out boys you didn't think you'd like? In that case, should Jack even be in there?

My head was going to start hurting if I kept thinking like that. Maybe I'd just stick to training for a while. Pokémon could definitely trump boys for a bit.

Yep. That's what I'd do. Not think about Jack at all. One hundred percent.

Maybe.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Luke POV

My room was in freaking ashes. Paul had burned the dresser and the carpet, the closet door was totally incinerated and I was pretty sure the bed was next. I had to get this monkey outside.

"Paul!" I snatched him up before his hair-flame set the desk he was under on fire. "C'mon. On my shoulders. Don't choke me." I took a deep breath after he settled down and snuck down the stairs. There weren't any other people who lived in this house as far as I could tell, but one of the _things_ might have gotten in here. If I saw one, did I have to fight it? I didn't know how the rules worked. Were there rules in a dream world?

We made it outside and I was overwhelmed by the amount of people in the street. I hadn't seen anyone in days. The sunlight burned. The _things_ were everywhere.

Paul was ******* ecstatic. He chattered happily as I skulked around the sides of the streets, trying to avoid eye contact with one of the things. I didn't want to be attacked.

I decided to walk once around the block to make Paul calm down.

Paul decided to be "social" by jumping off my shoulders and bolting down the street.

"Paul!" I took off after him, knocking some people off their feet when I didn't see them in time to move. "Get back!" He rounded a corner and I lost sight of him.

"PAUL!" I spun around, trying to catch sight of him. "Has anyone seen a fire monkey? Paul!" I kept calling and people just kept giving me weird looks. They knew I wasn't supposed to leave, but I wasn't trying to. I guess they didn't know what to do with me.

I eventually sat down on the side of the road, trying to figure out what to do next. What would I do if I couldn't find him? He wasn't that old, but did he even belong to me? I didn't get him like Des or JJ did, with one of those ball things. Did that make a difference? Should I just let him do his own thing?

I eventually tuned out my own thoughts and started listening to everything around me. People talking. Some about me. The things talking, saying their names over and over. Kids laughing. More of the things. A Squirtle and Chimchar. They sounded like they were fighting.

Oh ****.

"PAUL!" I ran towards the fight and dove in front of Paul as the turtle thing tried to soak him with water. The monkey chattered away as he took his spot up on my shoulders and I stood up.

"Hey! We were playing!" I looked down. A blonde little kid with a bowl cut glared up at me. He didn't even reach my waist height-wise. "What'd ya do that for?!"

I held up my hands. "Sorry, kid. I thought they were fighting."

"They were," the kid said with a _no duh, you idiot_ voice. "We were battling."

"Um…" I tried to stall. I didn't know how much I was supposed to tell people. Or if I should even worry about that. Kate and the others left me here, after all. What did they care if I told people?

"Can we finish it up or are you going to pull an Abra and run off?" I had no idea what an Abra was but I thought he was calling me a chicken. Maybe Abra was a bird/chicken thing.

"I don't know how," I shrugged. "They don't have battles where I'm from."

"Oh," the kid snorted. "You're the new dude from the Adar Section."

"And you're the annoying kid trying to fight a monkey," I said, irritated. "And I'm from California, not the Adar Section."

"The name is Richie and that's not a real place. It's a stupid name for a fake place, too."

I threw my hands up. "Whatever! I'm leaving."

"Richie!" A girl's voice cut in. I turned a bit and saw her standing next to me. She was even smaller than the first kid was. "Quit being mean! Calling him an Abra! You _knew_ that was his Chimchar!" She looked up at me and smiled. She was all freckly and had blonde hair with some red strands. "I'm Megan. Sorry he was so mean. Richie can be grumpy a lot."

"Hey!" The boy protested.

Megan stuck her tongue out at him before looking back up at me. "My daddy told me about you. Do you want to play? Please? Your Chimchar is so cute and his name is so cool. Please play?"

*hours later*

"OK, OK, I'm tired," I announced. "You guys have been talking about stuff I don't know, playing games I don't know and teaching me new things all day. I've learned about battling, Pokéblocks and a billion other things. Can we take a break?"

"Sure," Megan agreed. "But only if I can hold Paul."

I looked at the monkey. The monkey jumped into the little girl's arms. "So what now?"

"I can tell a story," Richie announced, a scary look in his eye. "It's a rhyme we all know."

Megan groaned. "I hate that rhyme. It's scary."

"You'll be fine," Richie said impatiently. "You have Chimchar." He turned to me. "Wanna hear it?"

I looked at Megan. "Only if you say it's OK."

She bit her lip and thought for a second. Then she hugged Chimchar tighter and nodded.

"Awesome!" Richie's face looked pure evil. "It's called Hypno's Lullaby."

"What's a Hypno?" I asked before he could start.

"A Pokémon that's like a little yellow man with pointy ears on top of his head. It can put people to sleep with its pendulum and eat their dreams." Richie looked put out at the interruption. "Can I tell it now?"

I nodded and he grinned again. Megan whimpered.

"Hypno's Lullaby." Richie recited a weird song rhyme thing. It sent goose bumps down my arms and Megan and Paul curled up in my lap by the end of it. It made me wonder exactly what Pokémon were capable of doing.

_"Come little children, come with me  
Safe and happy, you will be  
Away from home, now let us run  
With Hypno, you'll have so much fun_

Oh, little children, please don't cry  
Hypno wouldn't hurt a fly  
Be free to frolic, be free to play  
Come with me to my cave to stay

Oh, little children, please don't squirm  
These ropes, I know, will hold you firm  
Now look to me, the pendant calls  
Back and forth, your eyelids fall

Oh, little children, you cannot leave  
For you, your families will grieve  
Minds unraveling at the seams  
Allowing me to haunt their dreams

Do not wail and do not weep  
It's time for you to go to sleep  
Little children, you were not clever  
Now you'll stay with me forever."

**Creepy, creepy Hypno! **

**For crediting purposes, here's the song of it on YouTube I got the lyrics from: watch?v=FT_ZpHgiIKo**

**Only listen to that if you're really prepared to be creeped out.**

**Here on out **_**should**_** be smooth writing (I hope I didn't jinx that) because I have most of it planned! Wish me luck!**

**-Assyla**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"This is the third area we've checked, Jack. I'm going to run out of time before we find anything!"

"Hey, it's not my fault," Jack said calmly. We were on the southern plains and had just spent the last 14 hours searching for Ice Star's base. There was no way it was here, one of us earthlings would have spotted it for sure. Desiree and JJ were still poking around nearby, refusing to give up. Or maybe they wanted to talk about something alone, how would I know?

I glared down at Jack. I knew it wasn't his fault but I couldn't help being angry that we hadn't found something by now. We _always_ found something by now. The green haired boy leaned calmly against the rock and twirled his flute round and round in his fingers.

"Perhaps you're too scared for the safety of your friends to really want to find Ice Star."

I stared at Jack in shock.

"Have I hit a nerve?" Jack's tone was smooth, indifferent. "Are you really afraid that if we find Ice Star, your friends are going to instantly die? You don't know if dying here means they'll die in your world. You've never cared if you got hurt, always saying and doing reckless things. But this time you've been so careful. Are your friends not as strong as you'd like everyone to believe? Is that why you've been holding yourself back?

"What happened to you, dragon-girl? Sure you still defy the laws of how a Pokémon should behave, like you did flying around on Dragonair, but you've been so _quiet_ this time. Don't you remember ordering your Charizard to summon Ice Star with a message burnt into these very grasslands? Then you sat and waited for them! And all of us stayed with you and we beat them to a pulp just to get a drop of information. Then we used that information to start a wild goose chase that paid off immensely.

"You were so into the stupid and the dangerous and that's what made us legends. And that is what's holding us back now."

I stood there, stunned into livid silence.

"You think we're going to die?" Des's voice came quietly from just around the boulder Jack was leaning against. She and JJ joined us, their Pokémon standing beside them.

"No," JJ said curtly. "I heard more than you. Jack thinks Kate's been holding back because she's afraid of that."

"And that's not true," I said stonily. "I have _never_ let anyone who couldn't handle what we do be part of our team."

"You told me before this started that it was dangerous," Des cut in before I could continue. "Why shouldn't I believe Jack when he says you're afraid we'll die?"

"Because you're _here_, Des. You aren't back with Luke. Of course I don't want you to get hurt," I admitted. "And at first I worried about it a lot. But the whole world is in trouble. You two are here because you two are strong enough to save it with us."

I glared down at Jack, who was listening indifferently. "I don't know what your problem is, Flower Boy, but you know how I do things. And I am _done_ talking about this. And I am _done_ with this kind of searching.

"JJ," I said abruptly as an idea hit me. "Want to meet Ash?"

LUKE POV

Megan had made me promise to come back the next day and Richie had said if I didn't he'd come find me and use his Pokémon to make me. I'd asked what Pokémon he had and his "evil face" had made another appearance and he'd refused to answer.

So there I was playing with these two imaginary kids again. When would this dream end?

We'd only been outside an hour when shadows began streaking across the ground.

"What's that?" I asked, thinking it was some kind of Pokémon attack causing it.

Megan and Richie looked terrified, watching the shadows race across the grass.

"They found us," Richie squeaked. "We have to hide!"

"What?"

"The bad guys!" I didn't think Megan knew she was shouting. "They found our town!"

"Look!" Richie pointed up.

"Huh?" _How can there be shooting stars in the middle of the day?_

"Luke, come on!" Megan thrust Paul into my arms. "Come on!"

"What?"

"RUN!"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Isn't this world based off Japan?" JJ asked over the headset while we were flying. We'd put Desiree and Jack on Tropius together and JJ and I took Charizard. "Are we trying to fly across a whole country?"

"Kind of. The worlds reflect each other, but it's not exactly Japan. Where we were in Kalmaine is northwest of Kanto…you know this is going to be difficult without a map. Reach into my bag, it's in there somewhere."

It took a few minutes of digging before JJ could find the map. The bigger-on-the-inside bag had a lot of stuff in it by this point since I am packrat and tend to save useless stuff for years.

"This is what the world looks like?"

"This part of the world," I corrected him. "There're more extensive maps but I'm pretty sure the entire world hasn't been charted yet. There're a few places that have pulled a Bermuda Triangle. One in Adar and others on different continents."

JJ was quiet for a couple minutes, thinking about that. I wondered if he'd put together the same pieces I did.

"Do you think it's a Pokémon's fault?"

Yup. Same pieces.

"The one we're both thinking of? That's my best guess. I haven't gone looking for it, though. I couldn't risk not coming back."

"But you play by different rules than everyone else here," JJ said, confused. "Why wouldn't you be the one who comes back?"

"I think I could," I said slowly. "But being around and protecting people was always my first priority. I play by different rules for the most part but I'm still part of the world and have some of the same rules. I couldn't risk doing that."

"But Mewtwo would care about what's going on here," JJ argued. "Pokémon _and_ humans are in trouble. How long has it been since _Mewtwo Strikes Back_?"

I sighed. "About 50 years. I think. I don't know if Mewtwo would care but he'd have enough power to help if he wanted to."

"Isn't Mewtwo genderless?"

"Would you want to call one of the legendaries an 'it' to their face?"

DES POV

"We're looking for Ash Ketchum," Kate told the receptionist.

We'd reached this town only minutes ago and come straight to this building. I couldn't figure out why JJ's eyes were so huge. He was trying to contain his excitement about something...

"We wanted to watch his battle," Kate continued, "with Gym Leader Misty that we heard about."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack tense up. What was his problem?

The receptionist smiled at all of us. "I didn't realize they had told anyone about their plans. Just follow the blue arrows on the floor to the spectator seats. I'm afraid they've already been at it a while, so there's no telling how much you'll see."

"Thank you so much," Kate smiled back at the woman before setting the pace for us down the path pointed out.

"I don't know how you always do that," Jack muttered once we were out of the woman's earshot. Which was, like, three steps away. What was with the physics here? "No matter what, you pull it off."

"Explanation, please?" I cut in. "Who told you about the battle? We only just got here."

Kate glanced at JJ. "Any guesses?"

"Three," he responded. Show off. "You have a contact who told you via Pokégear. You BS'd it. There was an advertisement since a battle between the Cerulean leader and a trainer like Ash would be huge deal and the receptionist totally missed something."

Kate rolled her eyes. "You only had the first two theories and made the third one up on the spot."

"You can't prove that so I'm sticking to my story."

"Fine, fine. Anyway, it's all BS," Kate smirked at Jack's expression. "I've said it a hundred times: I only have some of your same rules, Flower Boy. It isn't unusual for your universe to bend itself to my convenience. And it was even easier with JJ and Des here."

"If I ever get to your world, I'm using that tactic to take it over."

JJ opened his mouth to jump in but we finally reached the end of the hallway, a heavy-looking metal door was between us and what I assumed was an arena.

Jack stepped up to open it. He pulled. And pushed. And nearly twisted the handle off.

"We can't get in."

"Des?" I looked at Kate, who was still smirking. She was rolling a bobby pin between her fingers. "Want to pick the lock?"

I opened my mouth to say I didn't know how but then saw her eyes flash to Jack quickly enough that I wasn't sure it'd happened before she did it again.

"If she can open that, I'll-"

"Wear one of the girls' dresses for a week?" JJ jumped in.

"Dye your hair pink?" I added.

"Ooo, how 'bout cut your hair?"

"Kiss Des?" Kate interrupted before I could throw something else out there.

After a long minute of silence, Jack put his hands in the air, surrendering. "Fine. Deal. Give her the pin, dragon-girl."

_Did he just take me on as a bet?_ Kate seemed to think he had. JJ's face said he agreed with her. I grabbed the bobby pin and knelt in front of the door handle anyway.

"How do I do this..." I ground out under my breath. I separated the prongs and wiggled it into the lock. I had only ever seen this on TV...

_Click._

The door opened easily. I knelt there in shock.

"C'mon, JJ," Kate sing-songed as she pulled that boy through the door. "Let's let these two have their moment."

KATE POV

"Do you really think he's going to do it?" JJ asked me.

"I'm more wondering if she'll let him," I said lightly. "We can find out later. Check _that_ out." He turned his attention to what I was looking at.

"Holy ****."

"Yep," I agreed. Pikachu was squaring off against a Politoed.

Rapid lightning flashes created a strobe light, confusing Politoed enough that Pikachu tackled him full on from the side.

"Come on, Politoed!" A woman's voice yelled. "Dive!"

We couldn't help staring, becoming convinced as the minutes passed neither Pokémon would defeat the other. Ash and Misty hurled insults back and forth in between directing and encouraging their partners.

It didn't register with me for a long time that Misty's voice was different than I had heard it in our world. Or that Ash's was the same.

Just as that piece of information clicked, Pikachu let out a ThunderShock so powerful Ash, Misty, JJ and I were all blinded. I could tell by the way the three of them shouted, and hoped that the trainers hadn't noticed they weren't the only humans in the room.

"WHO'S UP THERE?!"

Great. Just great. I tried to blink away the bright spots. Apparently Misty was ticked off.

Still half-blind, I approached the railing of the stands and looked down in their directions. My vision cleared more quickly than theirs and I could see Pikachu standing over Politoed protectively, facing me.

"We aren't your enemies," I promised, not loudly enough that I was shouting but making sure they heard me. "We actually need help."

It took a bit, but eventually the four of us were allowed down to the Gym floor.

I tried not to stare at the water-trainer. She was an adult now and the sight was..unsettling. I had heard last time that she was on her way to being a grandmother; the baby might have been born already.

"Who are you?" Misty demanded, still looking like she could blow up at us at any point.

"We're from Kalmaine," I said, gesturing to myself and Jack. "They're Adar. We need help."

"Yeah, you mentioned that already. Isn't Kalmaine the region all the kidnappings are happening?" Misty looked over her shoulder. "Could you _be_ any slower, Ash?!"

"Give me a break," the boy complained. "I'm on crutches here!" He finally got close enough for us to see what he really looked like.

"K," JJ whispered, "He's ten years old. Why the hell is he ten years old?"

"In a minute," I told him, not bothering to be quiet. I waited until Ash reached us and tried not to stare at him either. I was just a _tiny_ bit star struck.

"I know you," Ash said to me, surprised. "You were all over the papers everywhere years ago. You look exactly the same." He shifted his focus to Jack. "But you've changed."

"Shatrina," I said. "And you're one to talk. You haven't changed in decades."

"Finally, someone else notices!" Misty exclaimed. "I can't figure it out! And he doesn't care about it!"

"I have a theory," I sighed. There were actually a few flying over the Internet at home, but only one that I thought made sense. "But I need you twp to remember something. It could save a lot of people if you guys got your memories back."

"We aren't missing any memories," Misty argued. But Ash just looked thoughtful.

"We could be."

Misty stared at him.

"I should be _old_, Misty. Would us forgetting something be any weirder? Maybe it's why I'm like this."

I shook my head. "No, otherwise Misty would be that young, too. This is something different." I took a deep breath. "We need you two to think, and try and remember everything you can about cloning. And the Pokémon Mew." And here came the hard part. "And Mewtwo."

"There's no such Pokémon," Ash said slowly. "And Mew is extinct."

"No, it's not. Just think.. please. There were so many clones that were going to take over the world. And you guys saved it. Ash... you did mostly. You jumped into the fight. Right in the middle."

"And he turned to stone."

We all turned to Misty. She was wide-eyed and staring at nothing. I had a feeling she was experiencing a whole lot of flashbacks.

"He turned to stone by jumping between Mew and Mewtwo. I was there. Brock was there. Pikachu refused to fight. And the other one kept beating him up." Her head whipped around to stare at her friend. "The Pokémon tears saved you."

Pikachu, who had been hiding until that point, hopped onto Ash's shoulder. "_Pika?_"

Ash's hands were clenched around the handles of his crutches, hard enough that his knuckles were turning white. His eyes were shut.

We stood there for what felt like a long time.

"I remember."


	16. Chapter 16

Hours later, we were in the "attic" of the gym, remodeled as Misty's house.

"But I don't understand what you want us to do," Ash said. He was sitting on the couch across from the one Des and me had taken. Pikachu was in his lap and Misty had placed herself on the other end of that couch. Jack had gone outside a little while ago to feed the Pokemon. JJ was sitting on the floor, trying not to be obvious about staring openly at the 'characters' he knew so well.

Though since he looked more chibi than usual, I doubt he went unnoticed.

I tried to suppress a sigh. "I didn't know you were hurt, so I'm not sure what you could do now besides give advice. We'd been hoping you'd go back to New Island with us, or to one of the places people have disappeared for no apparent reason. Mewtwo would be able to help us stop whatever Ice Star's ultimate plan is. Pretty sure it'd include the rest of the world, though.

"I don't know if saving the kidnapped people and Pokemon would be enough of a reason for him to care. You made an insanely powerful impact on him all those years ago, Ash. It might have been enough to convince him."

"Why can't I go?" Ash asked, suddenly fired up. "It's just a leg, I'm sure a Pokemon could make up for it easily!"

"YOU CAN'T GO BECAUSE THAT IS THE FOURTH TIME YOU BROKE THAT LEG IN THE LAST YEAR AND IF YOU DON'T LISTEN TO THE DOCTOR THIS TIME, I AM GOING TO GET PIKACHU TO SHOCK YOU HARD ENOUGH YOU'RE KNOCKED OUT UNTIL YOU'RE HEALED."

The world seemed to freeze. No one wanted to be the first to talk if Misty wasn't done yet.

Jack chose that moment to walk back in. "Everyone's fed and they're all resting now. We might want to give them a break for the night and find a room to stay in in town...what's going on?"

Misty abruptly regained control of herself. "We just had a disagreement. I think everyone is on the same page now, though. So what's next?"

I didn't dare make eye contact with Ash. "We'll find a room, like Jack said, and then head to a Bermuda area in the morning. Is there anything you can tell us about Mewtwo before we go?"

"What's a Bermu-" Ash tried to ask before Misty cut in.

"There's no need for a rush, obviously you all are staying here so you can find out as much as you need to before tomorrow. Besides, your Pokemon would probably like to sleep in the open and my gym is just downstairs. How 'bout we order in?"

I'm not sure whether JJ or I was more surprised by the 'invitation'. JJ whispered his theories to me later. Either Ash had made her promise beforehand or she'd really just grown up

The rest of the evening was nice. Des and Jack looked over maps together to find the easiest area to walk to, since most of the vanished people had last been seen setting out for wherever on foot. I talked with Misty about Mewtwo for a while before we had covered everything and were firing interview questions back and forth at each other. JJ and Ash had hit it off and I could hear my friend's questions-I'm sure he'd been preparing them for ages-for the legendary trainer.

"What made you want to be a Leauge trainer in the first place? Like instead of a Ranger or doing contests?

"What do you think about the theory that the reason you're so young is because Ho Oh granted you eternal happiness by letting you be on an adventure with Pikachu forever when you saw it that first day?"

"How cool is it to be you? You're _Ash Ketchum_. That HAS to be the best."

"Um... Kinda sorry for asking if it's too personal, but.. You hang out with a lot of girls.. A lot of really pretty girls. Has anything ever..?"

JACK POV  
Everyone was asleep when I snuck out of the gym to walk the streets. Finally, some time without having to play the hero. Dragon-girl's version of hero, anyway. She was wrong that we're the villains, what we're doing is for the good of everyone.

Especially those who serve willingly.

I hoped that Desiree would be one of those. I was rather fond of her-she was less annoying than the others- and I could tell she liked me. Possibly enough to turn to my side when the right time came.

More people would have been taken by now, making our forces that much more impossible to be overthrown.

Even the legendary Pokemon Shatrina was convinced existed wouldn't be able to stop us.

Des POV  
"So tell me again why we can't fly?"

Kate rolled her eyes at JJ's question. "Really? The first three times weren't enough?"

"I'm bored."

"We're walking into a Bermuda Triangle and you're bored. Lovely."

"I'm sure Feraligatr would be happy to keep you occupied with his water gun," I suggested. Jack and I were walking behind the other two. We'd left Misty's house nearly two hours ago, just aas the sun came up.  
**** I hate mornings.

"Nope, I'm good."  
"That's what I thought."

It was another half hour before we reached what Kate thought was the border of the Bermuda. We all stopped and stared at the path ahead. It looked like any other place. A patch of grassy land just a ways from a road people took all the time. But the feeling... it felt like _shimmering_. How does that even work?

"Here we go." Kate looked at each of us. "Y'all trust me?"  
I gave her a look. "How could we not?"  
"We're here, aren't we?" JJ laughed.  
"Get going, dragon-girl. We're with you."

...

It was hard to miss the part where we teleported. We only walked for about a minute when the world shuddered. Then I blinked and missed the transition from the grass to a town.

We were all shocked silent for a heartbeat. Then Kate lost it.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! DAMMIT!"

**A/N  
YAY A NEW CHAPTER!  
Lol hope that's a reaction I got out of at least one person...sorry for the hiatus. I'm back, though, and set to write!  
Here's a link to the Ho Oh Theory an some others. I think it's pretty cool. Though I'm using a phone instead of a computer so it might be a copy-paste thing vs link for a while. We'll see. **

** . **

**Happy Tuesday  
~assyla**


	17. Chapter 17

Luke POV

Everything I saw was a type of purple. Dark, light or glow-y. Mostly dark and glow-y. There weren't many lights. There had to be hundreds of people in here, though, the place was freaking huge. All of us were standing in rows, holding Pokéballs. I was the only one looking around. The other faces I could see were creepily blank.

I tried to remember how I got there. It had been really cold. The kids were panicking and I tried to follow them when they ran away.

Pictures started coming back to me.

_People frozen solid._

_A huge spaceship, like something out of Mass Effect._

_Trying to get Megan and Richie out of the way of a blue, fox thing with, like, four diamond shaped ears that was shooting an ice beam.* Its eyes were outlined in glowing purple._

As I remembered more and more, I realized what deep s*** I was in and started to panic and look for a way out.

Everyone's eyes were outlined in purple here. I could only tell because colors were slowly coming back to me as I got more alert. Nobody else moved, even when I tried shaking them.

****. ****. ****.

Something suddenly hit me.

I looked at the Pokéball in my hand. It had to be Paul, right?

I was just about to figure out how to open the thing when the room lit up, way too brightly. Not knowing what else to do, I jumped back in line and tried to act cool. Creepy. Whatever.

People in black, blue and starry uniforms started walking up and down the rows. I remembered the bad guys' name now. Ice Star. Ha. Brilliant costumes there, guys.

They walked right by me without even noticing I was awake. Did they not see my eyes weren't glowing?

…they weren't glowing, were they? Nah. Probably not. Hopefully. I thought I had bigger problems jus then. Like not coughing or something.

Then the loudspeaker went off.

_"This is Boss 13. Give me the situation with the army. __Now__."_

Some grunt answered on a walkie-talkie thing. "They're all under the specialized hypnosis. Trainer and Pokémon both. The Psy-signal is still going strong and we'll start switching out the energy sources at the end of the hour."

_"Fine. I'll be bringing dragongirl and companions by noon tomorrow, so each and every one of you with free will better ensure the signal is in no way, shape or form weak. You know the drill about rewards and punishments."_

The connection cut off with a piercing noise. The room emptied fast of grunts and the lights went out.

I called Paul out, ******* furious.

"Little dude, I'm going to beat that hippie into next week when he get here." I let out a stream of curse words until the monkey jumped up and grabbed my face to make me stop.

"Fine, sorry, sorry. Ugh. C'mon, then. We have to figure out what to do. Let's try going this way…"

***A/N He's talking about a Glaceon here, just as an FYI. Not super important, but if anyone was curious. See y'all next chapter 0:- )**


	18. Chapter 18

JJ POV

I'm a writer. I make up stories and plan plot twists. I try to make people scream in rage and to make them more frustrated or happy or sad than anything they've gone through in real life because I like it.

Whoever was writing this episode of Pokémon had certainly accomplished the 'screaming in rage' part with Kate. For the next hour she would yell and hit things and tell Charizard to burn down something or other because it annoyed her by existing. Jack tried to play his flute at one point and she snapped it in half. And then snapped those pieces in half. After that we stayed the hell away from her.

Des and I walked through the now not-so-hidden town we'd taken refuge in not so long ago.

"How do you think they found it?" Des asked, "If their defenses were so solid, this should have been the safest place on earth..um.. in this..dimension..place."

"I'm working on it," I said, mostly to myself. "All this is is a story, more or less...think about it that way."

"I'm more of a romance novelist. You want Kate for fanfiction."

My brain was on fire, 200 trains of thought focused on stories and only a handful on here and now. "I really doubt she'd want to talk about it right now."

"How many trees has she burned down?"

"Six at last count...hey, where's your boyfriend at?"

"Great grammar there, Mr. Everything-is-a-story. And I don't know, he said something about looking for survivors or clues or whatever."

I stopped short, suddenly grinning. "You didn't deny it!"

"Huh?"

"Did hippie dude ask you out? Aw how cute, you're turning red!"

"Shut up!"

"Desiree and Jack-y, sittin' in a tree-"

And that's when it all clicked.

"****. We have to go find him."

"Please don't tell me you're going to go into a big brother routine."

"No, now _come on_!" I grabbed her hand and started running.

"JJ! I can't go that fast!"

"Shhhh!" I pulled her along, weaving between houses and staying out of sight, looking for Jack.

"Des, isn't it weird that this town didn't get found until after all of us got here? Apparently Jack didn't even know it existed until Kate brought us. Or at least didn't know where it was. The conversations I heard had some holes, but the point still stands."

"So...?"

"Desireeeeee, think about it! This town was safe until Jack found it. We've been running place to place based on his suggestions. The evil traitor romantic partner has been done to death-"

Des stopped short, yanking me back a few steps. "And he's right there," she whispered, staring across the street. "Talking into a walkie talkie with a star on it."

We were too far away to hear what he was saying, but the anime style around him made it all too obvious. We'd found our bad guy. We stayed still, trying to be invisible, until he'd finished his conversation and walked a good distance away.

"He's heading back to where Kate is still steaming, isn't he?"

"That would follow."

"And there's probably no chance we're going to get him away from her now."

"It'd make for good TV. Dramatic irony or whatever. Maybe if you tried to get him up in one of those trees...?"

Des grimaced. "It's worth a shot..but...ew.."

"Well he isn't really my type, you know."

"Let's just get back and try and warn Kate."

_"Warn Kate about what?"_

Des POV

Shit. Should have seen that coming. JJ moved so he was mostly between me and Jack. The hippie boy was tossing an amulet necklace up and down. Like a baseball. His eyes were shadowed and that smile was smug.

"You two seem to be confused."

The amulet began to glow purple.

"JJ, why would I lie about who I am? And sweetheart, don't you trust me?" The glowing turned into waves of light that pulsed toward us. I felt my skin tingle and everything went fuzzy.

_You never really thought I was part of Ice Star._

_You don't even remember having such thoughts_

_In five minutes, when you go back to Kate, you'll never have had this conversation._

_You'll trust me completely._

_You won't want to fight me when we get to the forty-second floor._

We were zoned out long enough for Jack to be gone when I got back to my own head again.

"JJ? Hey, snap out of it."

"What? Oh **** no. Did he just try and use hypnosis on us?"

"Something like that. But I think it failed...you do know he's an evil icy _mudak_, right?"

"One who has no idea that you should keep your evil icy logos off stuff people might see."

"Okay then. How do we go about this ass kicking?"

"Hey, Desiree," Jack smiled when JJ and I walked back to him and Kate. We had no plan aside from 'get Kate alone and then let Charizard take care of it.'

I put on my sweetest voice. The one I reserved for people I loathed. She'd have to know something was wrong. "Hey. What's going on over here?"

"Just deciding what place to try next." Kate hadn't even looked up at me, too intent on the map she was staring at. "JJ, you pick. City or Atlantis-type base?"

I could almost feel JJ's pain as he answered with the former. He could have died on the spot since it meant passing up the chance to try the Dive HM. But forty-two floors _probably_ meant skyscrapers.

"Let's go then. It'll take half an hour to fly there and we should leave time to try one or two more places before it gets too late tonight and we're all zombie tired."

There was no way we were going to be able to warn Kate. Our last chance slipped away when Kate refused to let JJ or me ride held in Charizard's claws.

"Ladies first, sweetheart." Jack was totally back in character.

"Thank you, dearest." The sickening sugar still didn't make Kate's radar. I climbed on the orange dragon, not having any idea what the hell we were going to do next.

We needed to work on our plan-making skills for the next time someone's boyfriend turned out to be part of the dark side.


	19. half chapter

The blind rage had passed. Now it felt like Charizard's claws were crushing my lungs. Any minute I would implode.

How could this ever be okay again? Even if we managed to rescue Luke and get out of this alive, how could I ever look at him without being ripped apart by guilt? I had abandoned him. And I had lost him.

_Let him be okay_, I sent out the thought to the universe._ Just let him, all of them, get out of this okay._


	20. Chapter 19

Jack POV

Dragon girl didn't take much convincing to try the building I directed the Otherworlders to. All I had to say was their friend might be in there. Desiree and JJ took even less persuasion than her, their minds still pliable from the psychic amulet.

Though I'd sent orders ahead to take down most of the security measures, JJ's comment on how stupidly easy it was to get in irked me. Stupid boy was arrogant, overestimating the power they had over my world.

I suppressed a sigh as we snuck through the building I'd personally designed. Only forty-two floors to go. Then their minds would be mine.

Kate POV

There weren't even guards in the building. Something was wrong here. Really wrong.

"Think we can use the elevator instead of the stairs..?" Des ventured when we found those doors.

I hesitated for a second. "...I don't see why not...but this...just doesn't feel right, you know?"

"I think we'll be fine, dragon girl. No one seems to be home, if it's even the right place."

JJ was already in the elevator. "The stars on the blue and white buttons kind of make me think this is the right place, dude. These people are not subtle."

Des joined JJ in the elevator. "The stars stop on floor forty-two. Want to start there and work our way down?"

I nodded absentmindedly and joined my friends in the elevator, still trying to pinpoint what was so _wrong_ about this.

JJ's snickers broke through my thoughts.

"What?"

"Listen to the elevator music."

"...seriously? The Lavender Town Theme?"

"It's always something," Des remarked as JJ nearly fell over with laughter. "Maybe someone should hit him?"

We reached the floor without _too_ much violence. No blood, at least. We stepped out into the hall intersection, suddenly quieted. I chose a direction at random and we all began walking that way.

Where were the cameras? Wouldn't they want to monitor in case of a break in? Or at least have guards? There weren't even signs marking the nondescript doors.

The lights flickered and I froze. Des stopped just short of crashing into me.

"Please tell me you guys feel the calm before the storm thing," I whispered.

There was a hesitation.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Des finally said, her voice seeming loud. "Seems OK to me."

"Yeah, let's keep going." JJ opened a door to his right. "We have to start somewhere."

My first real friend of this world shut the door behind him, smiling.

Then the lights went out for three heartbeats.

In the darkness, someone pushed me down and red lights flashed, releasing Pokémon . A cold voice gave an order. "Take aim."

Houndour and Feraligatr stood over in front of me, seeming too tall from this angle. Des had her hand on my back. Part of my mind wondered how they were always so cold. I could sense JJ right next to her.

We were surrounded. Ice star soldiers on all sides, Pokéballs in one hand and some kind of gun in the other. I really hoped they weren't the deadly kind. Tranqs or freeze rays would be so much better.

My eyes met their commander's.

****ing _shit_.

"Prepare for trouble, dragon girl."

Elsewhere in the building, a little fire monkey found a room with hundreds of Drowzee floating in tanks. Totally awake and actively, willingly, giving off power, which was amplified through the liquid the Pokémon floated in and then went down connected power lines. On the roof there were satellites that broadcasted the psychic signal entranced Pokémon and trainers, keeping them under control.

Paul didn't know any of this. He just saw Drowzee trapped in tanks. So he started setting shit on fire. Fire usually worked, right?

"Doing all right there, my friends?" Jack asked. I didn't even recognize his voice. "You can relax. It's only me."

"Yeah. It's only the brainwashing traitor," Des spat at him. "We can totally relax."

Jack smirked. "I would spend a moment wondering how you weren't totally taken by the Hypnosis... but it really doesn't matter." He snapped at one of the minions. "You. Helmet off, gun to your head. I'd like them to call off their Pokémon."

"Why do you think we'd care about one of yours?" JJ finished his question as the minion unmasked.

I could only stare at Luke as Jack talked. "Because he's one of yours, of course. Actually, dragon girl, all of these soldiers are technically yours." He waved a hand and all the others unmasked.

Kodi, Brandon, Danny, Corinn, Eliza, Hayley, Luke...

My heart stuttered. They were all here. Alive. Hopefully fine...

Wait. Luke. His eyes weren't glowing. I couldn't stop panicking about the gun at his temple but _his eyes weren't glowing_.

"Did you really think they just fell apart after you left? So much they were _captured_? You aren't that important. _Obviously_ it was a cunning inside job."

Luke was mouthing something. I suck at lip reading, so I thanked the first Pokémon for anime and rule bending. His subtitles read "buy me time."

"Why?" I demanded, hoping Jack was feeling long winded.

"There were ages and ages for me to take revenge after what you did last time. I might have gotten over it if the rest of them," he gestured to the team, "weren't so sickeningly adamant about following your instructions.

"I had no real power, even with you gone-a paraphrase of something you ever so kindly shoved down my throat, by the way-so I cultivated my own. The 12 Bosses were happy to welcome a 13th, since I was coming freely."

Luke was mouthing some more. As I read what was going on on his end, I realized I couldn't hear Jack talking. I couldn't hear anything.

Jack's lips were still moving. He was waving his arms around madly. I ignored his subtitles and concentrated on Kodi.

Like so many times before, I focused my will on the pink haired girl. I wanted my words coming out of her mouth. Luke had said it was time. Kodi's lips moved and words appeared.

"You're not going to get away with this, Jack." Kodi blinked and the result made me grin. "Not even if you kill us now."


	21. Chapter 20

Kodi POV

I kept my face blank as I watched Jack's turn red. Kate was talking to me. Apparently Luke, the new kid beside me, had some kind of plan.

Telepathy can be damn useful sometimes.

"Release your Pokémon," Jack snarled. "I want them electrocuted, burned, deep freezed and anything else you zombies can do."

He used to be the sweetest guy, too. I released Chingling mechanically, adding to the flashes of red lights calling out the hypnotized creatures. Waves of dark satisfaction rolled off Jack.

Then he saw Luke. Stupid boy hadn't gotten the gun away from his head.

"What, did I _stutter_? Call out your Pokémon to _destroy them_."

Then the traitor was looking down the wrong end of a barrel.

"Paul's busy. But I'm sure he'd want me to tell you to **** off." Alarms started going off in the building. Smoke detectors. "Guys, we should get out of here."

Kate nodded at Luke. I still didn't know how she could hear when she went deaf, and she let me into her head enough to catch her real name. _Kodi? A little help would be appreciated._

I nodded and sent a mental command to Chingling. The room disappeared and Ling lead us down a tunnel of impossible colors, taking everyone to safety. I love teleporting and can't help pity those who can't experience it like this.

Outside, the smoke poured out of the windows and an army of people ran out any door they could find. The street was veiled by a screen of the smoke, making seeing anything difficult.

Kate watched the people who were running away. _Kodi, their eyes aren't glowing! Whatever's going on stopped!_

_What do you mean glowing?_

_No, you wouldn't be able to see...Just trust me, it happens when you're being controll-shit, grab Jack!_

I couldn't reach him in time and he broke out of the circle and found refuge in a circle of Drowzee coming out of the haze. "It's not done yet!"

"Yes it is," the purple haired girl behind Kate spoke with ice as her voice. "Seven elephant-faces don't compare to what we have."

Jack smirked and I felt my hope drain away. I remembered everything I had seen over the weeks and knew what was coming. "I have so much more than Drowzee." The wind began to blow, clearing the smoke.

****ing shit. Kate sent a mental image to me of the glowing eyes around us began calling out her dragons. Our team frantically did the same; in total we had 18 Pokemon to battle Jack's army with.

"We can do this!" I spoke Kate's words to the team. "Just like back in the old days! Defend each other and play to your strengths!"

It always _was_ a game to her.

JJ POV

The army of Glowymon converged on us. "How are they still controlled?! Luke?!"

"I don't know! Maybe Paul couldn't find the Pokémon that keep hold on this bunch!"

"No," the girl with the Chingling cut in. "I don't sense any bonds attached to them, the Drowzee must be the closest thing they have to trainers. They can't break free like the others did."

It made sense. Except… "Wait! Who the hell is Paul?!"

A blast of fire shot up in front of my face, burning the vines of a Venasaur that was attacking.

"I'd guess The Chimchar that just saved you is Paul," Des shouted over her shoulder.

Of course it was. I saw Des's Houndour go down and then she took the full force of a Mach punch, making her crumple in on herself. Dragons were shot down from the sky through the smoke and the other trainers' Pokémon were retreating back to us. A razorleaf cut my forehead open and Feraligatr fainted battling a Blitzle

I called him back just as the ground shook and knocked all of us down. "Damn Earthquake! Someone needs to use Disable!" A Magmar landed directly in front of me, kneeling down so our eyes met. My blood went ice cold as I sensed it getting ready to attack.

"JJ!" I heard Luke shout. His Chimchar was knocked out before it could help. The Magmar opened its beak and I saw the fire in its throat. The dark markings near its eyes distorted as it narrowed its gaze.

It whirled around and a torrent of fire burned through every enemy I could see.

"Whose is this?" I called to the others as the Magmar continued to protect me. Its power was so ****ing far beyond anything I'd ever seen.

"I don't know!" The girl from before was cradling her Chingling in her arms and sending out her own waves of Confusion. "We've never seen it before!"

I stared, mystified. No one would be able to be mistaken about that. The marks around its eyes really ran down its entire body. Magmar was joined by an Arbok and Venomnat with similar marks. More and more Glowymon were going down as more and more marked Pokemon appeared.

"Don't hurt the weird looking ones!" Luke shouted, catching on to what I was thinking. "I think they're on our side! ….No, you two switch opponents or you're toast!"

I finally had a chance to run over to Des. Her Houndour had woken up and was trying to help her stand. "Desiree, careful! That thing almost knocked your lungs out." I made her lean on me, and began looking for somewhere safe.

"Don't you dare dump me anywhere."

"I wasn't going to!"

"Liar... Hey, look at the new guys. I remember them.."

I tried to figure out what she meant and my eyes locked on a pair of Squirtle battling it out. One marked and one glowy.

"Holy-"

The ground shook again at that second and sent all but the marked Pokémon to the ground. They'd all jumped, like they'd known. Were they connected? I could hear finishing moves all around me but I was looking around the sky and rooftops.

"There!" I pointed it out to Des. "There's a blue sphere on top of that building."

"What's inside it?" The fights around us had ceased to exist for the moment. The bubble flickered and I saw three figures. A giant purple one and two humans.

"...JJ, I think we won."

I looked away for less than a second to see, I swear. But they disappeared in that fraction of time. "I think we had a lot of help, Des."

She smiled weakly. "I saw. I can't believe she let him out of the house."

"Desiree, JJ, Luke," the psychic girl called us over to her and the other trainers. "We aren't done yet. Time to get instructions from our fearless leader." She pointed down the street. Kate was sprinting away from us. I could see the group of Drowzee teleporting down the streets bit by bit. They had to be exhausted. The green haired jack*** was running after them.

One of the guys of Kate's old group sighed. "Hayley, go grab her. She won't catch Jack and detain by herself, there are bigger Magikarp to catch than him nearby and there's no way she's getting out of clean up again. Now who exactly is going to explain this to Officer Jenny? And all the other Jennies for that matter..."


	22. Chapter 21

Des POV

"Desiree!" Hayley grabbed my arm before I followed Danny out of the room to help with some of the Ice Star victims that were coming back by police mandate. Kate had insisted on a headcount and everyone getting treated for psychic residue immediately. I could see a lot of the Jennies thought she was paranoid, but no one else could think of what to do and for all I knew she was right. Kodi had backed her up and convinced the lead Jenny to do the same.

"What's up?"

"You need to make her rest." Hayley pushed her feathery hair out of her eyes, only to have it drift back down as she talked. "She's as fierce as her dragons, but on deaf days she goes into serious energy drops and gets all manic and paranoid. She'll drive Kodi crazy by sunset and then we might lose official support."

I frowned. "You can't lose that if she's going to be leaving soon, can you… right.. You go with Brandon and help with the people, particularly the kids. I'm going to get hold of Kate's To Do list and take over."

"Who?"

"Um." I tried to remember the weird name from when we first got here. Why the hell did she feel the need to pick something that obscure? "Dragon girl."

"O-kay...I haven't seen a list, though."

I shrugged. "She always has one." Hayley nodded and headed out with Brandon and some of the officers.

"Des!" Luke ran up and right into me as I turned to go find Kate. "C'mon, Kate's going nuts!"

"So I heard, getting all bossy or someth-"

"No, you don't understand. Kodi just had to have Charizard restrain her, come _on_!"

"Can you bring her a bit closer to the ground, Charizard?" Kodi asked on our approach. The dragon complied, bringing her to about eye-level with Luke. A good eight inches above my head. Kodi looked at us. "She's going on about how she needs to tell the Jennies a hundred different things, find Jack and whoever he was working for and then some stuff I can't even keep up with. This is the worst drop I've ever seen."

"Why do you drop?" I asked Kate.

She rolled her eyes.

"She says she can't hear you. She's deaf."

"Oh well that's bullshit. I saw Luke's subtitles back there, too."

Kodi smiled a little, apparently finally getting an answer to a long-held question. "She says fair enough. She thinks she drops because this body is transferring energy to her other one. But it shouldn't be happening this quickly…" the smile was gone. "She's right, you know. She's went deaf, what, five hours ago now? It takes a whole day last I checked."

"It probably has something to do with us." JJ finally popped up. "Don't know how, but that's my best guess."

I shrugged one shoulder. "Doesn't really matter right this second."

"Well that just made her mad."

"Thank you for the astute observation, alligator man." I mock-glared up at Kate. "Calm down and give Kodi your To Do list. I know you have one and for some reason you're not sharing. Tsk. Didn't you go to preschool?"

"She's always been more comfortable doing things herself," Kodi said quietly. "Her game, her rules. Though I was never supposed to catch that thought."

I opened my mouth, ready to retort. JJ beat me to it. "It's multi-player now, Kate. Give us the list and we'll work with it. Don't and we'll just play by new rules."

Kodi looked suddenly surprised, and her eyes went unfocused. "I can't believe that worked. She's giving me everything."

"Guys?" I managed to choke out. "She's fading out…"

I could see the stream of thoughts being transferred to the psychic. All shimmering air. The more Kate gave, the more transparent she became. I just barely made out her outline when she ran her hand down Charizard's scales and waved to Kodi.

"She's gone." Kodi blinked hard, twice. Absorbing information or fighting tears? "We have work to do."

Kate POV

Everything was dark. I heard wheels on a sidewalk and couldn't decide if it was a skateboard or rollerblades. Hearing always was crap after this happened. I could smell...burgers? I finally figured out how to open my eyes.

Well there was the source of the smell. JJ and Luke had just picked up In N Out before meeting us here. Their bag was still on the ground with our backpacks. Sitting up, I realized I was back in the stuff I had on before. Fake gauges and all. I'd never understand the rules of world travel.

Were there rules?

I laid back down after checking my phone. It wasn't even three thirty yet. Kids were still walking home from school. Crap. It was still Tuesday. Why did I never get a weekend to recover?

Desiree showed up at 3:36.

"You know you had me waiting for ten whole minutes."

"You know I had to figure out what to do for six whole weeks."

"Touché."

"I'm taking some fries."

"Go for it. They can't do a damn thing about it."

JJ showed up as we were contemplating taking the burgers, too.

"And what sort of time do you call this?" Desiree smirked. "It's 3:59, young man. You missed curfew by two entire minutes."

"Remind me to take your kids out for some fun whenever you have 'em. 3:57 curfew? They'll go crazier than you are."

"I don't think that's physically possible. She's already a whole new level."

Ten more minutes passed.

"You think we could just buy Luke another burger later?"

"We already demolished the rest of his food," I pointed out. "Give him a break."

Ten more minutes passed.

"Did Des really just fall asleep?"

"Yup."

Ten more minutes.

"I'm getting worried...where is he?" I reached over to shake Des awake.

"Aw, leave her alone. Her boyfriend just turned out to be a Sith of the Pokémon world. More or less."

"Fine."

Luke appeared at 4:42.

"About time!" I stopped short of hugging him when I saw his arm. "What the hell did you do?!" I began tearing through my backpack, digging out a spare shirt. "JJ, press this against it or he's going to bleed way too much way too quickly."

"Leg first." Luke was breathing heavily and had to say it twice before we understood and finally saw the worse wound.

"Oh my god… Tear it, I'll get one you get the other."

"_Help_!"

"Des! Des, we're over here. It was just a dream...how the hell is your face bruised?!"

Des sat up slowly and saw Luke. "Luke...You're alive...you're alive. How..?"

Shit. "What did we miss?"

Des and Luke looked at each other for a long moment before Des spoke again. "Well first of all, he's supposed to be about three years older. And a ****ing trainer of Pokémon tagged as too dangerous to handle."

"What?"

"Well you were the one trying to hug the rabid Persian!"

"_What?_"

"Well it's how you handled that Tauros!"

"I'm only going to say this one more time._ What?!_"

The two glared at each other and JJ jumped in. "I'm going to guess someone got over his fear of pocket monsters, someone else got bored and sucked into an abused-Pokémon-training-esque school and that Desiree found herself another boyfriend."

Des's hand flew up to her neck. "You're insane."

"And you're trying to cover a bite mark. Let's move past the obvious."

I exhaled heavily. "Please tell me there isn't another global emergency we're missing."

Luke shrugged. "Not that I know. Hayley said they'd handle it."

"Handle what?"

"Something about someplace getting covered in lava in one area and water in another. She's good at natural disasters so I didn't question it."

"Luke," JJ said slowly. "Do you mean magma and aqua?"

"That's what I said."

I groaned. "Well what the hell are we supposed to do now?"

"I vote we find me a real band aid."

Des nodded. "Yeah but let's make it a hospital. And I want some ice. Oh chill, Kate. I'm sure you'll have another klutz moment tomorrow and somehow drag us all back in."

"They do happen pretty regularly," JJ pointed out.

"Screw all of you."

"Sorry," Des smirked. "I don't swing that way. Now let's get going. I'll drive us to the ER."

We all managed to get Luke to the car before it hit me. "How are you not panicking about this, Des? You hated blood before."

"And then I joined his crazy school for stupid reasons."

"Yeah, apparently I hired cute guys. I want a head exam while I'm there, by the way."

It took Luke until we were in the parking lot to notice.

"Who ate all my food?!"

**And on that note, we're done! For now. We'll see. Let me know what you think! I love writing just for writing's sake, but feedback always helps me improve :) Thanks for reading.**

**~assyla**


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